THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS

Matthew 1:1–17

Key Verse: 1:1

 “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:”

          A political hot button issue in this election cycle has been immigration. Soon the U.S. may actually have a wall going up along our southern border. But many have pointed out that America is really a nation of immigrants. The only legitimate people here may be the native Americans, like those at Standing Rock. Looking at things this way turns everything on its head. On a TV show “Who Do You Think You Are?” celebrities trace their ancestry and find out shocking things about their roots. We all have so many assumptions about who we are, where we came from, and, based on that, what we deserve. Throughout my life people have looked at me strangely because of my last name. Several years ago I researched my ancestry and found that I’m a direct descendant of at least five men who fought in the American Revolution; earlier, two of my ancestors were in the original Jamestown colony; one even came over on the Mayflower. So I guess I’m more American than most. Supposedly I’m even related to some kings of England. Does it change who I am? Will people respect me more? Hardly.

          For most people history and genealogies are so boring. In two places the Bible actually warns us not to waste time on genealogies (1Ti1:4; Tit3:9). But Matthew begins his Gospel with a genealogy. Many just skip over it and would never devote a whole lesson to it, because it looks like just a list of strange names nobody ever heard of. So why are we studying this genealogy? It’s because as we look at it more closely, we learn some important things. It shows us that Jesus’ birth as the Messiah is good news. It reveals God’s faithfulness. It’s not really a human ancestry; it’s a spiritual lineage of faith. In Jesus’ genealogy we even find the names of some scandalous women. And we begin to see why David is such a key figure. Through this study may we learn more about God, about ourselves, and about how we can be used by God today.

First, the Messiah. Read verse 1. Here the word “genealogy” in Greek is “genesis.” It means beginning or origin. Where did Jesus come from? In his time some people thought Jesus wasn’t even Jewish (Jn8:48). Matthew is saying Jesus came from David, and from Abraham. And he repeats that Jesus is “the Messiah” (1,16,17) Who’s that? “The Messiah” means “the Anointed One.” In the Old Testament, prophets, priests and kings were all anointed. But the Messiah is a special One. God made special promises to Abraham and David that he would send the Messiah through them. God told Abraham, “…all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Ge12:3). God told David, “…I will establish the throne of [your offspring’s] kingdom forever” (2Sa7:13). Many Old Testament prophets also predicted the Messiah’s coming (Lk24: 26,27,44; Ac3:18; 17:2,3; 26:22,23; Ro1:2; 3:21; 1Pe1:10,11). Among them, Isaiah may best capture the meaning of the word “Messiah.” Isaiah 9:6 says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The Messiah isn’t just a king; he’s “everything to everybody.” He satisfies our souls and meets our deepest needs. People hold onto false messiahs, be they people, ideas or objects. But knowing Jesus as my true Messiah changes everything.

Second, human unfaithfulness and God’s faithfulness. As we read through the names in this genealogy we notice some things. Firstly, the list of men after King David (6–11) are only the kings of Judah; the northern kings aren’t mentioned. It calls to mind how Israel was divided into two. That painful division happened because of David’s son Solomon’s sin of idolatry (1Ki11:9–13). Especially, Matthew repeats in verses 11,12 and 17 “the exile to Babylon.” Those 70 years were the most humiliating. The Northern kingdom had already been destroyed by the Assyrian Empire. God punished them for their idolatry. During the Babylonian exile, the southern kingdom Judah was destroyed for the same reason; they “were taken captive to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness” (1Ch9:1). Their hearts turned away from God and turned to idols (e.g. 1Ch5:25; 2Ch29:6). The Jews were proud of their heritage as God’s people. But this genealogy shows that they were unfaithful to God. God alone was faithful to his promises. Despite their unfaithfulness, God kept his promises for 42 generations to send the Messiah through the descendants of Abraham and David. God never lies or changes his mind; he never makes a promise and doesn’t keep it (Nu23:19). We’re all unfaithful, but God is faithful (Ro3:2,3). This gives us hope (La3:21–23).

Third, a spiritual lineage. If Jesus’ genealogy were just a list of people literally descended from Abraham and David, it wouldn’t have much to do with us. But we find that it’s actually a spiritual lineage. Read verse 2. Abraham had more children than Isaac; Isaac had more children than Jacob; Jacob had more children than Judah. But only these three descendants—Isaac, Jacob and Judah—are mentioned because they inherited the covenant promises God made to Abraham (Ro9:6–8). Why did they inherit God’s covenant promises, and not their siblings? It was because they learned personal faith. Galatians 3:7–9 reads, “Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” No matter who we are, if we learn Abraham’s faith, faith in Jesus, we too are included in God’s redemptive history, in the spiritual lineage of God’s people.

Fourth, scandalous women (3,5,6,16). Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus mostly lists men’s names. But surprisingly, he includes the names of five women. He could have chosen more honorable women, such as Sarah, Rebekah or Leah. But instead, he purposely chooses some pretty embarrassing women. Tamar was the daughter-in-law of Judah (3a). The only way she was included in this genealogy was because she dressed up like a prostitute and tricked her father-in-law Judah to sleep with her. What a weird faith! Tamar’s faith exposed Judah’s sin, but also set him on the road to repentance (Ge38,45). Rahab didn’t just dress up; she was a prostitute. And she was a Gentile. So much for racial purity! The only way she was included in this genealogy was because by faith she protected Israel’s spies when they came to Jericho. Because she did so, her life was spared, she came to live among God’s people, and even married into the lineage of Jesus (Heb11:31; Jas2:25; cf. Jos6:25). Ruth was a Moabitess, a descendant of incest between Lot and his daughter, and God had said the Moabites were not supposed to live among his people down to the tenth generation (Dt23:3). The only way she was included in this genealogy was because she learned faith from her mother-in-law Naomi. When their husbands died, Ruth by faith went back to Israel with elderly Naomi, to take care of her. And by faith she listened to Naomi and boldly asked Boaz to marry her. In verse 6 there’s this woman “who had been Uriah’s wife.” Her name was Bathsheba, but by writing she “had been Uriah’s wife” Matthew is intentionally exposing King David’s great sins of adultery and murder. The only way she was included in this genealogy was because by faith she listened to the prophet Nathan and asked David in his old age to make her son Solomon king (1Ki1:11ff.). Finally, there’s Mary the mother of Jesus. In history people have idolized her, and many still pray to her. But actually, her story was also scandalous. She got pregnant while engaged, and it wasn’t even with her fiancé Joseph. Though she was innocent, people imagined the worst about her. The only way she was included in this genealogy was because by faith she obeyed God’s will for her to be the mother of his Son (Lk1:38). Five scandalous women. Why does Matthew include them in this genealogy? In his former life as a tax collector Matthew probably knew some prostitutes. Later he tells us that during Jesus’ ministry many prostitutes had repented and accepted God’s grace (Mt21:31,32). It wasn’t anything new. God has always worked through repentant people who had faith.

Fifth, Manasseh. Read verses 9,10. There were many kinds of kings of Judah. David was known as the gold standard of kings; everyone else was compared to him. The second best was probably Josiah; the third, Hezekiah. The hands down worst was Manasseh (2Ki21:1–18). Though he was king of God’s people, Manasseh was a blatant idol worshiper. He even brought idols into God’s temple and sacrificed his own sons in the fire. He led the whole nation astray. God sent the king of Assyria to put a hook in his nose and shackles on his feet to drag him off to Babylon. But something amazing happened. 2 Chronicles 33:12,13 reads: “In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.” Manasseh’s story tells us that God has always worked through repentant sinners, even really wicked ones. So much for human self-righteousness.

Sixth, David. In this genealogy Matthew mentions David repeatedly in verses 1,6 and 17. Look at verse 17. The three sections of 14 generations is a Hebrew gematria, which attached a numeric value to each Hebrew letter. David’s name in Hebrew has three consonants, DVD, and their numeric values are 4, 6 and 4, which adds up to 14. The point is, this entire genealogy has a strong focus on David. Jesus the Messiah is “the son of David.” In verse 6 we already thought about David’s great sins of adultery and murder. So why would God put so much emphasis on David? David’s story shows us that even the best people are mere sinners, in desperate need of a Savior. David also shows us what may be, to Matthew, the most exemplary faith. Why is David’s faith so exemplary? It was because David had faith to repent and believe God’s forgiveness. When the prophet Nathan came and rebuked him for his sins of adultery and murder that he’d been hiding, David didn’t lash out at Nathan with his kingly power and have him executed. Instead, he said, “I have sinned against the Lord” (2Sa12:13). Then David wrote one of his most famous songs, Psalm 51, which begins, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” What great fait—not to despair, but to come to God and ask for his forgiveness and cleansing! Apostle Paul lists David’s faith as an example for all Christians when he writes: “David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them” (Ro4:6–8; cf. Ps32:1,2). David shows us what Jesus the Messiah really came to do: forgive our sins (Mt6:12,14,15; 9:2,5,6; 18:35; 26:28). He also shows us all how to come to God, confess our sins, and accept his grace of forgiveness in Jesus.

          Today we learned that Jesus is our Messiah. Even the best people are unfaithful, but God is faithful. God uses men and women who have personal faith, regardless of who they are. God wants to include all kinds of people among his people. Most of all, God sent Jesus to forgive our sins. May God grant us the faith to receive his grace personally this Christmas.

PRAISE THE LORD, MY SOUL

Psalm 103:1–22

Key Verse: 103:2

“Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits…” 

Happy Thanksgiving! For most people, Thanksgiving is about taking a break from work or school, getting together with family to eat a meal, and maybe watching a parade or football game. But more and more people would rather not spend precious time and money on Thanksgiving, because it means having to deal with dysfunctional family members and getting painful old issues stirred up again. Thanksgiving doesn’t have much of a religious significance anymore.

However, even non-believers see being thankful as a good thing. An article in Forbes magazine shows how being thankful produces positive results—it helps us to have better relationships, better physical and mental health; it reduces our aggression and increases our empathy; it improves our self-esteem and increases our mental strength. Still, even though we may know it’s good, it’s hard to be thankful in the midst of messy relationships and many pressing problems. Moreover, we all can be thankful for good things in our lives, but not really be aware of where they came from. The Bible says that every good and perfect gift actually comes from God himself (Jas1:17).

And therein lies the problem: if it’s about God, many people immediately get turned off. So many have a negative impression of God, mostly due to those who’ve claimed to represent him. Charles Shultz, the creator of the Peanuts cartoons, famously had his character Linus once say, “I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand!” In the same way, many people say, “I love God; it’s Christians I can’t stand!” But honestly, many of us don’t know God all that well. We may have some common sense knowledge or impressions of God, but not a very personal understanding. And Christians certainly don’t always represent him well.

Psalm 103 speaks to these issues. It’s probably one of the most loved of all the psalms in the Bible, because it tells us not only what to be thankful for, but also, who God really is. This psalm was written by David. He grew up as a shepherd boy, became famous as a fighter, and later, after much suffering, king of Israel. Through all his life experiences he grew to know God intimately. He knew God so well that he was also famous for writing and singing many songs about God. Have you ever considered writing your own song for God?

In this song David begins and ends with the words, “Praise the Lord, my soul” (1,22). As we read these words it sounds weird, because it seems David is talking to himself; he’s talking to his “soul.” He doesn’t say, “Praise the Lord, my lips,” or “Praise the Lord, my mind,” or even “Praise the Lord, my heart,” but “Praise the Lord, my soul.” He adds in verse 1, “all my inmost being.” It tells us that we all have something inside us, and it’s called a soul; it’s at the core of our being. We all tend to feel our bodies—when they feel good, or when they feel bad. But often, we’re totally unaware that we’re a soul. We can get so busy in life, living as if we don’t have a soul. It happens even to church people who’re working hard but not taking the time to nurture their souls. Then we wonder why we’re having problems. Genesis 2:7 says our souls come from the breath of God. It implies our souls were created for God. As our bodies need things in order to be happy and healthy, so do our souls. As Pastor Judah Smith writes, we need to be asking ourselves and others, “How’s Your Soul?”

We can go through the motions of going to church or Bible study and singing the praise songs. But this psalm tells us we need to learn how to praise God from our soul, with all our inmost being. In Hebrew, the root of this word, “praise,” actually means to get down on our knees. That’s pretty dramatic and powerful. Why does it have to be so intense? It’s because God is real, and that’s the only kind of praise and thanks he deserves. Not fake. Not superficial. Not half-hearted. From the soul. All our inmost being. On our knees. Like David who danced with all his might when he brought the ark of God into Jerusalem (2Sa6:14). The fact that David commands his own soul to do it also has an important message for us. Most often, we’re not “feeling it” at first, but we need to make a choice to praise God; it’s something we need to choose to do. We can choose to focus on the negative. We can choose to be bitter. We can choose to be depressed. Or, we can choose to praise the Lord.

But how can we go from “not feeling it” to praising the Lord with all our inmost being? In verse 1 the psalmist tells himself to “praise his holy name.” Here, “name” represents God’s character. So to “praise his holy name” means to praise God for who he is. Later, David will describe who God is more fully. But suffice it to say here that we can praise God with all our inmost being when we turn our thoughts away from ourselves and our problems, away from people, away from this world, and really start thinking about his holy name, who God is.

Read verse 2. According to this verse, another key to praising God is to “forget not all his benefits.” This is definitely not “friends with benefits.” The word “benefits” literally means good deeds, and sometimes it’s translated “kindness.” It means how God treats us. The operative word here is “all.” It means a lot. We need to remember “all” the ways God has shown his kindness and goodness to us. As the hymn says, “Count your blessings, name them one by one; count your blessings, see what God has done.” So let’s start counting! God has done so much good for us. It started with our parents, teachers, coaches or anybody who went out of their way for us. Whoever they were, people nurtured and protected us when we were helpless babies; they trained us as children, they guided us as teenagers and mentored us as young adults. None of us would be where we are today without those people. But often we’re unaware that these good people in our lives actually came from God himself. As we enjoy all the kindness God has shown us, directly or indirectly, we’re kind of like people eating a gourmet meal, unaware of how much it cost somebody or how much work went into making it.

And this touches on what’s probably our greatest human problem. We all take things for granted. We’re like Adam and Eve who started taking the beautiful garden and all their privileges in it for granted. What’s more, in our sinful nature we tend to magnify our problems, but minimize the good. Sometimes we even create drama and manufacture fake problems. Of course some people have really serious problems, great pain and suffering, no end in sight, nobody to turn to, no true friends. At different times we all experience various levels of hardship. But whatever we’re going through, the bottom line is that we get to be alive, and we get to be alive in God’s good world. As the famous movie showed us, life is beautiful. Life’s a privilege. We all have an absolute reason to praise God—we’re alive. So Psalm 150:6 says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”

Yet, we so easily forget all God’s benefits. Sometimes we even convince ourselves that we created these benefits. We like to think we’re independent and not indebted to anybody. But the truth is, without God we wouldn’t even be alive, not to mention able to enjoy anything good. The Bible says that when we forget all God has done for us, we become proud (Dt8: 12–14; 2Ch26:16; 32:25). We become spoiled, and frankly, ugly. It’s ugly to receive so much only to turn out ungrateful. On the other hand, it’s so beautiful to give thanks where thanks is due. To “forget not all his benefits,” we need an exercise in being reminded. And that’s what this psalm is all about.

So what are all God’s benefits for us? Many people at Thanksgiving say, “I’m thankful for my family and friends, I’m thankful for my job, etc.” But surprisingly, David doesn’t start out describing any financial or human benefits. What does he begin with? Read verses 3–5. Notice he doesn’t mention the generally “good things” until verse 5. What he’s thankful for first is God’s forgiveness. He’s not speaking generally, about God forgiving all those wicked people out there; he says, “who forgives all your sins.” There he goes again, talking to himself! David uses the word “your” here five times, each time speaking to himself. It tells us that to really thank and praise God, it’s good to remind ourselves of our own sins. David says, “all your sins.” Sounds like a lot. In the Bible David seems like such a nice man; but he knew himself, that he had so many sins, sins against God, and sins against people. We shouldn’t live in denial about all our sins. Nor should we just dig up our ugly sins and be left in shame. We should remind ourselves of all our sins, in order to appreciate how great God’s forgiveness is. “God forgives…all our sins”?! Wow! We’ve heard it probably many times, but do we really appreciate it? David’s going to come back to describing God’s forgiveness a bit later. But the point here is to take a moment to remind ourselves of all the sins in our lives that God has so graciously forgiven. Appreciating God’s forgiveness personally is the starting point of being thankful, the starting point of praising him with all our inmost being.

He adds in verse 3b, “…and heals all your diseases.” Here David makes healing parallel to forgiveness. It’s deep. As we experience God’s forgiveness, we also experience his healing, both physically and spiritually. David seems to be suggesting that we human beings have all kinds of spiritual diseases. What are all these spiritual diseases? Well, it’s not pretty. Pride. Vanity. Lust. Selfishness. Fear. Guilt. Self-hatred. Hatred of others. Greed. Unbelief. Bitterness. And that’s just to name a few. We develop these spiritual diseases as we gradually commit sins, and, as people sin against us and against each other. Once we contract these spiritual diseases, they’re so hard to get rid of; they become our “baggage.”

The man who wrote Matthew’s Gospel used to be a tax collector before Jesus called him. His life choices he made in order to pursue money at all costs left him spiritually very sick. But Jesus invited this spiritually very sick man to follow him, and Jesus was always with him until he was healed. Through Jesus’ spiritual healing Matthew was changed from a greedy, guilt-ridden, chronically selfish man, into a man who saw sick people with God’s love and compassion. So in retelling the details of Jesus’ ministry, Matthew emphasized how Jesus healed people. He said Jesus’ healing was in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases” (Mt8:17; cf. Isa53:4). What heals our spiritual diseases? It’s definitely not our efforts to improve ourselves. The only thing that can truly heal all our spiritual diseases is God’s forgiving grace to us in Jesus. The Bible says that by the wounds of Jesus on the cross we have been healed (1Pe2:24b; cf. Isa53:5). Here, David uses the present tense of the verb, “heals,” to say that it’s an ongoing process even now. What a great thing to be thankful for, that God is healing all my spiritual diseases in the grace of Jesus!

Let’s read verse 4. Here, “the pit” can refer to the pit of death; it can also refer to the pit of sin that’s impossible to get out of on our own. When we give in to sin in our lives and contract spiritual diseases, our lives feel like we’ve plunged down into the pits. In a pit we feel hopeless. But God in his grace redeems our lives from the pit. How does God redeem my life from the pit? It’s through Jesus, who died on a cross in order to redeem us. Through his shed blood Jesus paid the price to get us out of our pit of sin. In fact, Jesus is the only one who can get us out of the pits. And what happens to us when we get out of there? It says that “he crowns us with love and compassion.” What a change! It’s like the prodigal son coming home filthy and in rags, but having the best robe, ring and sandals put on him. Though we’re nothing but ugly, dirty sinners, God treats us in Jesus like royal princes and princesses. What does it mean to be crowned with love and compassion? Partly, it means to experience God’s love and compassion personally. Partly, it means to become loving and compassionate like God himself. What a blessing, to be crowned not with material treasures, but with love and compassion! We can’t take credit for it; it’s an inner transformation, done only by the grace of Jesus. When we actually see God’s own love and compassion growing in us, it moves us to praise him with all our inmost being.

Read verse 5. Here, “desires” means simply, what you want. And in Hebrew the word for “good things” was especially used for things that smell amazing. I’m thinking of a bakery, or a house when somebody’s been cooking an incredible meal. God our Creator knows what we want and how to satisfy us, and he generously provides us with plenty of food and fills our hearts with joy (Ac14:17b). But in this verse David is probably talking about not only physical but also spiritual satisfaction. Being in a relationship with God satisfies our souls like nothing else. We experience firsthand how good he is to us. When God satisfies us, it says our youth is renewed like the eagle’s. It means we have new strength and new spirit to soar. We get so tired and worn out living in this world. We can even get burned out and feel dead inside. We need to spend time coming back to God, until we experience him so deeply that our souls are renewed and truly satisfied. It’s the best refreshment ever. And we need to praise and thank God for always renewing us whenever we come to him.

In verse 6 David helps us to see that what God does is not just for us personally, but for all people, especially those who’re oppressed. God doesn’t ignore them, but works righteousness and justice for them. In this next section of the psalm David wants us to appreciate more of God’s character. God revealed what he’s like in the ways he dealt with his people Israel (7). Look at verses 8–12. This is a loose quotation from Exodus 34:6,7. Many people think the God of the Old Testament is a God of anger and wrath. But that’s not true. God revealed himself to Israel as one who’s compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. God doesn’t hold grudges. God also doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve. We should say that again: God doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve. That’s precisely what it means to be gracious. Our sins make us deserving of punishment, severe punishment. But God loves us so much that he wants nothing more than to forgive us. David describes God’s forgiveness. Read verses 11,12. David uses great distances here as a metaphor. Our sins may seem so great to us, but God’s grace is far greater. When he forgives, it’s like he totally wipes our record clean. It’s like he puts our sins at the opposite end of the galaxy, in a black hole, obliterated. That’s how much he loves us.

David wants to think more about God’s compassion. Read verses 13,14. God really is our Father. His compassion for us isn’t a concept; it’s real, and very personal. In God’s eyes, we’re his own lovely children; we belong to him. David also emphasizes how God in his compassion knows and understands us. He knows all our weaknesses. He knows how truly weak we are. But he doesn’t despise us for it; even in our fragility he sees us with compassion. When we dwell on the greatness of God’s forgiveness and compassion, we want to praise him with all our inmost being.

David also meditates on God’s faithfulness. To do that, he thinks about how different God is from human beings. Read verses 15–18. Human beings are here today, gone tomorrow. But God is from everlasting to everlasting. The Everlasting God never forgets the people who keep his covenant and remember to obey his word. We also see in these verses the one thing this amazing God wants from us. He knows how weak we are. He knows how sinful we are. All he asks of us is that we fear him. It’s repeated here in verses 11,13 and 17. What does it mean to fear him? He’s so forgiving, so compassionate, so faithful. To fear him doesn’t mean to live in dread of him, but with awesome respect. It means not to abuse his grace or take him for granted. Ultimately, as David says in verse 18, to fear him means to remember to obey his word. If we don’t keep his word, we’re not really fearing him.

David finishes with a glorious vision of God in verse 19: “The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.” At the end of his song, David again calls for praise to God. Read verses 20–22.

Let’s read verse 2 again. This Thanksgiving, let’s try to remember all God’s benefits. His forgiveness. His healing. His love and compassion. All the goodness he shows us, that satisfies our souls. May he help us even to kneel down and praise him with all our souls.

THE NEW CREATION

Galatians 6:11–18

Key Verse: 6:15

“Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.”

Sometimes we try to force people to do something we want. Parents force their children to do their homework. Employers force their workers to come on time and do their jobs. Even in the church people are forced to do things, through guilt trips and, frankly, other sorts of bribery. But when a ministry is based on a system of forcing people, it’s not healthy, because when the forcing stops, so does the activity. Nobody can be forced into a relationship with God, into following Jesus, serving him or living the Christian life; it has to come from our hearts. In Galatians Paul has been fighting against the Judaizers’ forcing Gentile Christians to be circumcised, and in these last verses he writes about it again. This time, he exposes their real motives. Instead of circumcision, Paul makes a new rule for all ministries. This “rule” is “the new creation.” He also shares how his own heart, his motives and all his values had been changed so radically. In this study we want to think about what it means to be a new creation, how to become a new creation, and how to really live as a new creation. May God open our hearts and speak to us through his living word today.

 Look at verse 11. It seems that this last portion of the letter, verses 11–18, were written in Paul’s own handwriting. In the ancient world people wrote letters all the time, but usually they dictated their words to a secretary who wrote things down. Paul also used this method in writing his letters. But at the end, he would take the stylus and scroll away from the secretary and finish it in his own handwriting (2Th3:17). It was his way of proving that the letter really was from him. In this case, he’s using very large letters. Why? Most likely it was due to his injuries. About six months before writing this letter, Paul had been stoned nearly to death in a Galatian town called Lystra. After the stoning, Paul continued his ministry in Galatia with resurrection faith, not protecting himself or holding back (Ac14:19,20). But physically, the stoning had left its marks on him. It may have damaged his eyesight (Gal4:15), and with a possible head injury, even his fine motor skills. This may be why when writing in his own hand he had to use such large letters. If this was the case, this portion of the letter must have been a heart-moving reminder to the Galatians of Paul’s commitment to the gospel as a matter of life or death. Despite his hard physical situation, what spirit Paul had!

 Read verses 12,13. Paul again mentions circumcision. Why does he keep talking about it? It’s because it was such a real problem for these new Gentile Christians. Since they’d just become Christians, it was so easy to influence them. And as Paul had mentioned earlier, the Judaizers were really zealous to win over these Gentiles (4:17). When people are extremely zealous, they can be very persuasive; they can influence us and turn us to a different path. The problem is, it may not be the truth (5:7–9). Paul himself has been writing very passionately and persuasively, but it was based on “the truth of the gospel” (2:5,14; 4:16; 5:7).

Here Paul says the Judaizers “are trying to compel you to be circumcised.” Here the word “compel” in Greek is literally the word “force” (cf. 2:14). Even if it’s good, even if it’s the truth, we can’t force people. We can’t force people to study the Bible, force people to pray, force people to attend meetings or services, force people to teach the Bible or to offer tithe. Why not? It’s because it won’t be coming from their own personal faith. So when the forcing stops, so will the activity. We need to be prayerfully helping people exercise their own personal faith, based on a personal response to the word of God. Our Bible study, prayer, church attendance and serving need to happen not because someone is nagging or pushing us, but because we’ve personally decided to believe God’s promises and obey his commands. For example, Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” We can’t force people to live with these spiritual priorities; but we can pray that people will take this verse as the personal promise of God, and act on it.

Paul also talks about the Judaizers’ motives. In verses 12,13 he mentions three: to impress people by means of the flesh, to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ, and to boast about “your circumcision in the flesh.” To “impress people” in Greek literally means “to show a good face.” In Asian cultures, honor and saving face are extremely important. People will even commit suicide if they think they’ll be dishonored. But in many other cultures, looking good is more important than content. People in America work hard on their outward appearance, spending lots of time and money on diet and gym membership to look buff, not caring so much about their character. They also want a good-looking house, car and life. This motive can work its way in to ministry. The Judaizers weren’t so serious about keeping the law themselves, but they were serious about forcing Gentile Christians to be circumcised so that they could “save face” before their fellow Jews. In the same way, people want to have the appearance of a fruitful ministry. They want to have many attendants on Sundays or show up to big church events with many so-called converts, not caring about the depth of change in people or the quality of their own personal spiritual life.

We can understand trying to impress people by means of the flesh; it’s a little harder to understand why getting people to be circumcised was a way of avoiding being persecuted for the cross of Christ. But in their community, if people didn’t follow Jewish customs, including circumcision, they would not be accepted or welcomed. Regardless of the cultural context, it’s always been much easier to follow some outward customs than to depend on the cross of Christ as my only righteousness. When we only depend on God’s grace through the cross of Christ, not on any kind of human conformity, we too will experience various forms of persecution. When we don’t conform, we’ll be despised as unspiritual or perceived as rebellious, not to mention being shunned. Our Lord Jesus himself was despised because he didn’t keep Jewish religious customs and became a friend of sinners. Because he hurt their pride, in the end he was crucified.

Lastly, Paul says the Judaizers wanted to “boast” about their circumcision in the flesh. It means they wanted to hold up each Gentile believer as a kind of trophy for their own glory. They wanted people to be impressed by their ability to get Gentiles to become like Jews. It was really twisted. But down through history it’s been the perennial problem for everyone involved in evangelism and discipleship. Evangelism and discipleship are so good, so right, so precious, but our false motives can poison them. Paul wrote elsewhere that it didn’t matter if it were from false motives or true, as long as Christ is preached (Php1:18). But here in Galatians, he says the motive is so important. Earlier, he wrote that the Judaizers were trying so hard because they wanted these new Gentile Christians to be loyal not to Christ but to themselves (4:17). In the same way, many people are trying to find personal validation through ministry. They’re trying to feel better about themselves through ministry. They’re trying to feel loved and appreciated, or to get people’s respect, or even a higher position in a church organization, through boasting about their fruitful ministry. It’s tricky because motives in ministry are invisible. People see appearances, but God can see right into our hearts (1Sa16:7). We should be helping people purely, out of love for Christ and love for them, not out of any self-interested motives.

To emphasize this, Paul again mentions his own personal testimony. Read verse 14. This is one of the most famous Bible verses; so many pastors, missionaries and gospel workers have had Galatians 6:14 engraved on their tombstones. Paul’s example here is meant to be followed by all believers. His motives had been totally changed through the cross of Christ. How so? Before knowing Christ, he’d been working hard as a young Pharisee. He was more zealous for the law than all his fellow Jews. But it was for his own glory. His name, “Saul,” implied that he was a great one. With this motive he was even persecuting Christians, arresting and dragging them off to be stoned to death. He wanted to be seen by the world-wide Jewish community as the most promising young Jewish man. He thought he was so righteous. But after meeting the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, in the light of his presence he finally saw the blackness in his own heart. He saw that he actually wasn’t religious at all; in fact, he was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man (1Ti1:13), who had wounded and crushed so many people for his own ambition. The Risen Jesus told him it wasn’t Christians he was persecuting, but Jesus himself (Ac9:4,5). Paul realized that in pursuing his own glory he’d been living as an enemy of God, trying to steal God’s glory for himself. This truth forced him to look at the motives in his heart, and inspired him to change his name to “Paul,” a small one. His pride, vanity and self-righteousness were broken. He no longer cared what his fellow Jews thought of him; he cared most about what Christ thought of him.

He wrote back in 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Through the cross of Christ, he fell in love with Christ. He’d tasted a love that made human recognition seem empty. Now, the focus of his life was not himself, but Christ. He was ready to boast about what Christ did on the cross, not about what he did. His only glory was in the cross of Christ. He was ready to suffer anything, not for his own name’s sake, but for Christ’s. He was even ready die for the name of the Lord Jesus (Ac21:13). The cross of Christ had changed his heart that deeply. The pull of the world, especially of human recognition, no longer had any affect on him. This is what it means when he said that “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” He no longer valued what the world values: honor, status and security. He valued what Christ values: humility, service and self-sacrifice. Now, his motive in helping people was truly pure: to have Christ “formed” in them (4:19). He wasn’t trying to have their bodies marked by circumcision; he was trying to get their hearts engraved by the cross of Christ. Honestly, human glory and recognition are still a powerful temptation for each person. Only the power of the cross of Christ can break their spell on us.

Read verse 15. Paul had written something very similar back in 5:6. Since Christ has been crucified on the cross, circumcision or uncircumcision no longer matter. They’re like any other human consideration, such as religious, ethnic, economic or social background (3:28,29). The only thing that counts now, Paul says, is “the new creation.” What is this “new creation”? It’s what God does when we repent and accept what Jesus did for me on the cross. The Holy Spirit works in us to completely change us. We’re born again as God’s children (Jn1:12,13; 3:3,5–8). 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

But what does it mean to live as a new creation? It’s life by the Spirit. First of all, it means to have the amazing assurance that God has forgiven all my sins. It means to have a personal conviction about God’s love, that God loves me personally as my true Father (4:6). It means to have the Spirit’s power to resist our sinful nature, the power to walk differently in our daily lives (5:16), in what we pursue and in how we treat others. It means to have a faith that expresses itself through love (5:6). As new creations, we serve one another humbly in love (5:13b). New creations have the good fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (5:22,23a). In other words, new creations grow in a Christ-like character. Most of all, new creations have experienced new birth into the living hope of the kingdom of God (1Pe1:3,4). When we’re new creations, we believe God’s kingdom is my true inheritance and my final destination, my real life goal. In verse 15 we find what our focus should be, both personally and in our prayers for others. We should be struggling to come to the cross of Christ until we’re truly made into new creations, until we experience the changing power of the Holy Spirit. We also should be praying for others not so much for their human problems or needs, but especially that they can become new creations through the cross of Christ. We should never lose sight of this goal in prayer.

Read verse 16. Paul gives a conditional promise of blessing of peace and mercy. It’s not for everyone, but only for those who “follow this rule”—the rule not of circumcision but of the new creation. When we’re new creations, when our fellowship values being new creations through the cross of Christ, not following rules, laws or customs, we experience true peace and mercy. It’s the mark of the Israel of God, meaning God’s true people who struggle with God through faith in Christ until they’re really changed. Only changed people can really experience God’s peace and God’s mercy.

Read verse 17. Evidently, not just the Judaizers but even some others were out to cause trouble for Paul. They would cause him trouble especially by emphasizing things other than the cross of Christ and the changing power of the Holy Spirit. Since Paul had already experienced so much suffering for Jesus, evidenced by the scars on his body, they should stop.

Read verse 18. Here Paul again comes back to what his letter to the Galatians is all about: living in the grace of Christ (1:6). What we need most, each and every day, is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to be with our spirit.

Today we thought about how important our motives are, and especially, how we can be changed into new creations through the cross of Christ. May God bless us to follow this rule of the new creation. May he fill us with his peace and mercy through the grace of Christ. And may he help us, like Paul, to be changed so deeply that we boast only in the cross of Christ.

HOW TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

Isaiah 1:1–31

Key Verse: 1:18

“‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’”

There are so many things we think we’re supposed to be doing to be good Christians. We tend to look at outer activities rather than the core—what should be motivating what we do. Today’s passage tells us what’s most important is having a real relationship with God. The story here is between God and the people of Israel, but it serves as a metaphor for what’s happening between God and each individual human being. As we go through today’s passage we want to think about why we even should have a relationship with God, what happens when we don’t, and especially, how we can get that relationship going, even though things between us and God may be pretty messed up. May God open our hearts and speak to us through his living word today.

Let’s look at verse 1. This verse introduces the book of Isaiah. The time frame of these kings was 740–686 B.C. So Isaiah was a prophet for 64 years. He saw many kings of Judah come and go, but he always pointed his people to their real king, God himself. This verse summarizes the entire book of Isaiah as a “vision.” It means that it came from God. God showed Isaiah what he thought not only of Judah and Jerusalem, but also of the whole world. God also showed Isaiah a vision of the future, a vision that culminated in the coming of Jesus. Look at verse 2a. Isaiah summons heaven and earth to listen to him. Why? He says, “For the LORD has spoken:” What he’s about to say is not his own opinions or perspective, but the very words of God himself.

It’s kind of a slap in the face. God's message is a rebuke. Read verses 2b–3. Who are the children mentioned here? They’re the people of Israel. God had been like a loving parent. He’d protected, provided for and trained them. But when they grew up, they rebelled against him. Their rebellion was sheer treachery. Imagine the most loving, caring, giving parent serving many children. Then the children grow up, the parent gets old and frail, and the children just rob the parent's bank account and dump her in a broken-down nursing home. If such a story would get into the news media, people would be enraged at such children. This is what God wants to evoke here. He goes on to mention two animals, the ox and the donkey. They’re not the cleverest animals. But even they know that their master and owner is their provider, and they know how to come back to him for care and security. God laments that his people Israel are more ignorant than an ox or a donkey.

So what are we supposed to make of this? It tells us that God is our Creator. He made us. Though we may’ve had human parents, God himself is actually the one who’s been providing for and protecting us all throughout our lives until now. He’s been training us in various ways for our good. Since God has been so involved in our lives, we should be able to recognize and acknowledge him. In fact, it’s only right that we should be in a relationship with God, after all he’s done for us. We wouldn’t even be alive without him. It’s only natural that we should appreciate our Creator and be loyal to him. How could we ignore the one who really reared us and brought us up? Yet we do.

We need to think about what it really means to rebel against God. Of course it can mean flagrant acts of defiance and blatant disobedience. But rebellion against God can also be very subtle. It can be as simple as ignoring God or neglecting him. It’s surprising that God’s own people Israel were rebelling against him. But it’s still happening; people who claim to be Christians, to believe in God, under all the layers of appearances and talk, can actually be rebelling against God. We rebel against God when we’re not sincerely seeking him, seeking to know and love him more, seeking to do his will ahead of ours. And we rebel against God when we try to play God, when we try to be the masters of our own lives and of others’ lives, if in our interior life everything revolves around us and our own glory. There are even people trying to do ministry who are actually rebelling against God. Today we should quietly reflect on ourselves and ask, “Have I been rebelling against God, and if so, how?”

Read verse 4. This verse is sort of like a death sentence to the nation. In Hebrew the language reflects that they’re “heavy” with perversity and great guilt. They’ve banded together in evildoing, and their very natures have become corrupt. And what's the source of all this? It all started when they spurned “the Holy One of Israel” and turned their backs on him. When people turn away from God, they cannot but become wicked and full of guilt. We can’t be good on our own. Read verses 5,6. Here Isaiah changes his tone and speaks not with a stern rebuke but as someone concerned for a sick and dying patient. All these wounds and sores came from their own rebellion against God. Outwardly the Israelites probably looked healthy and fine. But Isaiah was helping them see their true spiritual condition. People may think that acts of rebellion prove that they’re strong. But actually, rebellion against God makes us sick. And it doesn’t hurt God; it hurts mainly ourselves. It’s almost as though people in some twisted way want to hurt themselves, like cutters; they want to self-destruct. But it’s not what God wants for us. God doesn’t want to see us all beaten up and bruised and sick and in pain, because he loves us. But without a relationship with God, this is what happens to us—we get all beaten and scrambled up inside, really unstable and fragile. Read verses 7–9. These verses describe how God removed his hand of protection from the nation. When they chose to ignore him, God let them fend for themselves against their enemies, and their enemies quickly overran them and almost completely devastated them. We may think we're strong enough to take care of ourselves. But without God’s help, we’re all as vulnerable as a hut in a field of melons. It’s the first time in this book Isaiah mentions a group of people called “survivors.” Elsewhere he calls them “the remnant.” They're people who live through all the hardships and difficulties that come, but who remain because they come back to God and are loyal to him. It’s because of these people that God doesn’t give up on the human race. How precious the survivors are! Isaiah also mentions Sodom and Gomorrah. God totally annihilated them for their wickedness and rebellion against him. All the Israelites knew that famous story.

Then Isaiah gives them another shocker. Read verse 10. He’s saying that even these people and their leaders are just like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. They thought they were God’s people, that they had some kind of righteousness. But in God’s sight they were basically no different than the wickedest people imaginable! Read verses 11–15. On the surface the Israelites seemed very religious. After all, they gave God a multitude of offerings, didn’t they? They came to the temple supposedly to worship God. They burned incense to represent prayer. They strictly kept Sabbaths and meetings and all kinds of conferences, and some of them spread out their hands and offered many prayers. But God said he hated it all, that he was burdened by it all, and that he wasn’t even listening! News of this must have hit them like a ton of bricks! They thought they’d been earning God’s favor with all this religious activity, that surely they’d be blessed by God for all they were doing. But it was just the opposite. Why was God so displeased? He says in verse 15b, “Your hands are full of blood!” What does it mean? It means that despite all their religious activity, they’d been doing evil to their fellow human beings. They’d been guilty of hurting, oppressing and neglecting the needy. They thought their hands were squeaky clean, and prayerful, but to God, they were full of blood. Read verses 16,17. Here God says what he really wants is not sacrifices, assemblies and superficial prayers to manipulate him to get blessings, but real repentance, and real concern for the most vulnerable people. This tells us that we can’t really worship God without serious and sincere repentance. We can’t please God when we ignore justice and when we ignore the people God himself is most concerned about. Most of all, God wants us to have a real relationship with him. He wants that more than anything else we can do. We can start that relationship, no matter who we are or how bad or hypocritical we’ve become, if we start repenting before God, if we start taking our sins against God seriously. If we don’t do that, we’re making having a personal relationship with God impossible for ourselves.

Read verse 18. This is probably the most stunning verse in the chapter. In fact, it’s one of the most memorable verses in the whole Bible. After describing all the people’s wickedness, sins and hypocrisy, God seems to do an about-face. He’s suddenly willing to bring all this hostility to an end. He’s willing to take these very sick, guilt-ridden, sin-prone people back to himself. In fact, he’s willing to wipe everything clean. It’s like he’s willing to expunge their criminal record and cancel all their debts. The colors “scarlet,” “red” and “crimson” hark back to the mention of blood-guilt in verse 15. To God, the guilt of their sins was as intense and as obvious as the color red. But God was willing to make it as white as snow and as wool. What does it mean? The very nature of snow and of lamb’s wool is to be the color white. They don’t need any assistance to be white; it’s in their essential nature. Here, white represents purity. White people shouldn’t misunderstand. God was offering to not only take away the guilt of their sins but also change their very natures to be pure. And it means God isn’t even going to remember our sins anymore. This is what God’s forgiveness does.

How does God take away all our guilt and even change our very nature? God made peace with us through the shed blood of Jesus on the cross (Col1:20). Even though we’re guilty sinners deserving of wrath, we’re justified in God’s sight, not by what we do, but by believing in the blood of Jesus (Ro3:25; 5:9). Even though we were once far away, we’re brought near to God through the blood of Christ (Eph2:13). After sinning, people suffer from a guilty conscience and try to suppress it through sinning more boldly, and often through abusing drugs and alcohol. Some even see a psychiatrist and take medication to alleviate this deeply disturbing guilt. But the blood of Jesus cleanses our consciences of all our guilt and enables us to start serving God (Heb9:14). As we studied recently, 1 John 1:7 says, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” A relationship with God is possible for weak, broken, sin-sick people through the blood of Jesus, if we’re humble enough to accept it and depend on it daily.

God is ready to forgive, but we have to do our part. So he gives us two options. Read verses 19–20. After receiving God’s forgiveness, we need to continue to live in a relationship with him that’s willing and obedient, not reluctant and rebellious. The last part of the chapter (21–31) goes on describing the tragedy of Israel’s corruption. They lost their spiritual integrity and sense of justice. But God would discipline, purify and restore them in righteousness. Especially he’d show them how shameful their lust and pride are before him.

Today we learned how important it is to have a real relationship with God, and how we can do so. May God help us come to him in sincere repentance, and have humble faith in the blood of Jesus. May this real relationship heal us.